India vs England : 2nd Test Match at Edgbaston; Day five :

       

      India vs England : 2nd  Test Match at Edgbaston

Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

Day five :          

'Akash lit up the gloomy skies' with Shubman'

The 2nd test ended with a massive and extraordinary win for India; first ever in Edgbaston. The winning margin of 336 runs speaks of itself the control India had over their opponents from Day One. The tale of two tests has shown the Cricketing World the dominance of Indian Cricket Team for nine days out of ten days in both the games. The last day of 1st test was scripted differently and the last day of 2nd test has given the answer of ruling this format of the game by the new look team without Rohit and Virat.

Individual brilliance and binding the team as a unit, Shubman has shown his Leadership instinct and not to be deterred by the big responsibility. In fact he has shaped himself in a much calm and composed manner, totally grounded and also listening to his team mates but ultimately taking his own decisions. 430 runs in two innings, second highest ever in test cricket combined with Akash a superlative performance of 10 wickets for 187 runs eclipsing the 39 years record held by Chetan Sharma and also going ahead of Bumrah, Zaheer Khan speaks about his performance. Siraj was brilliant with 7 wickets for 127 runs. 

 

Message from Virat on this brilliant win sums up all sharing his heartfelt wishes for the stars of this game Shubman, Akash and Siraj.

 

Shubman started the day handing over the new ball to Akash to start the proceedings which came as a surprise as to why not Siraj ? The smart move from an assertive Captain today saw a bright start with Pope gone to a beauty from Akash shattering his stumps. Another beauty a sharp incoming delivery taking Brook by surprise and he was leg before right in front of the wickets. These two wickets set the tempo for the game and England were reduced to 83 for 5 in quick succession.

Akash was using the crease, the conditions and the ball making it seam and swing both ways, a rare combination which even had taken his Captain Gill by surprise.  Ben Stokes on the other hand had watched and faced some critical deliveries of the pace attack of India with Akash being the more accurate and bowling to the stumps. The way he was extracting swing and bounce from the flat track was surprising everyone. A lifetime best bowling on display in England in test cricket. The success of Akash on this wicket and conditions relate to his disciplined bowling linking to attack stumps and also producing sharp incoming deliveries along with moving outside from the off stump. It seemed all the batters were unable to negotiate Akash on the last day.

Shubman rotated his bowlers well to get the next breakthrough with score reaching 153 runs. Washington Sundar deceived Stokes with a faster one and the much needed wicket was in his kitty. The other spinner Jadeja was also hitting the rough and getting turn also odd ball bouncing a bit with the batters unable to negotiate the spin. Smith continued from where he left in 1st innings and was trying to pace up his innings. Once Woakes was dismissed the England tail tried to defend for some time with Smith going strong. There were some spirited fielding and catching with Siraj produced a stunner flying sidewise to send Tongue back to the pavilion of Jadeja. The innings folded with Smith and Carse falling to Akash Deep and his penetrative bowling. The ball to deceive Smith was a clever plot. Bowling two faster short pitch deliveries and getting both hit out of the ground, he produced a slower one which took Smith totally off the hook and the ball landed in the safe hands in the deep where a fielder was positioned.

To sum up the test match the dominance of Indian batters and pacers was the talking point. Putting up a strong total in the 1st innings, Akash and Siraj bowling in tandem with the new ball and using the conditions effectively and bowling to a defined line and length, whereas the English bowlers particularly Carse and Tongue were pitching the ball short and not attacking the wickets had laid the foundation of the test match in India's favour with excellent stuff produced by Akash in the 2nd innings.

       

The other most important aspect was the way Shubman Gill led from the front and produced the best from his team in all segments of the game. The tactical clarity to attack the stumps and not allowing the opponents to settle was achieve except for the two bright innings from Brook and Smith in the 1st innings. 

Shubman Gill the skipper deservedly named Player of the Match with his outstanding performance, contribution and leading the team after the defeat in the first test with renewed vigour and authority. As he had mentioned will improve in fielding and bowling after the shocking defeat in the 1st test, he demonstrated the same through his team's performance. Shubman Gill also accepted that the way the bowlers had bowled in this test match and ripped through the top order of strong English batting line up speaks the vigour and energy the team produced at the right moment. Both Akash and Siraj bowled with precision and brought the wicket to life and bowled continuously in both the innings with relentless energy.

                                                   

The England top order woes had hit them badly during this test and to work on that will be the top most crucial part for the home team. 

Shubman Gill confirmed on Bumrah playing the 3rd test which will give India a big boost to an already spirited team who have squared the series by outplaying England in all departments.

Such authoritative display by India against England in England is a great achievement by the new look young Indian team producing some of the finest batting display and superior use of the new ball right through the test remains the talking point with this big victory.

That brings an end to the most fascinating test match with India scoring 1014 runs in two innings, Shubman with all time best of 430 runs, Akash with his record breaking performance of 10 wickets, superbly aided by Siraj with 7 wickets and lastly with much improved performance in fielding.

The team head towards the home of Cricket, Lords for the 3rd test match starting from 10th of July and all eyes will be on this very crucial game.

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